DOMINION EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 61 



To have strong and robust chickens which will grow rapidly, 

 the parent stock require to be constitutionally strong. 



A prolific strain of egg layers can only be had by systematic, 

 careful and painstaking breeding from the best egg layers. 



Lice-infested hens are not likely to prove profitable. Both 

 hens and henhouse should be entirely free from vermin. 



Chickens that are allowed to ''pick up their own living" 

 do not make early layers nor desirable market poultry. 



A proper poultry house should be free from draught, well 

 ventilated and perfectly dry. Under these conditions, eggs in 

 winter may be expected. 



A cold should be attended to at once, or it will develop 

 into roup, which is both infectious and contagious. 



Both lime water and water-glass have been found satis- 

 factory egg-preserving liquids. The eggs should be perfectly 

 fresh when put into either solution. 



Summer eggs of undoubted freshness and flavour must be — 



(a) Strictly new laid when sent to city dealer or sold to 

 private customer. 



(b) They should reach the consumer within one week of 

 being laid. 



(c) Should be non-fertilized. 



(d) After being taken from nests — until shipped or sold — 

 should be kept in a sweet-smelling cellar or cubpoard. 



Winter Eggs — 



(a) Should be collected before being frozen. 



(b) Sent to city dealer, customer, or sold on market within 

 ten days of laying. 



(c) Kept meanwhile in clean, sweet-smelling storing place. 

 (d^ Preferably non-fertilized, but this is not so strictly 



insisted on as in the case of summer eggs, for in winter there 

 is not the risk of germ development. 



Eggs in Both Seasons. — In order to have the desirable 

 flavour at all seasons, eggs should come from cleanly-fed and 

 kept hens. The fowls should not have access to decaying animal 

 or vegetable matter This particularly applies to summer. 

 The nests at all times should be clean, comfortable and free 

 from lice. The la ges: eggs will be laid by hens, although pullet 

 may yield a greater number. Whether laid by hens or pullets, 

 the eggs, to be of large size and good quality, must come from 

 generously fed birds. 



Poultry of Best Quality. — To have chickens of the desirable 

 type and quality they require to be — 



(a) Of correct market type. This is brought about by 

 breeding from parent stock of like type. 



(b) They should be carefully housed and regularly fed 

 from time of hatching until saleable age. 



